Wavves at Oxford Art Factory, Sydney

Carol Bowditch checked out Wavves and Sures in Sydney last week: 

Local young guns, Sures, warmed the crowd and I couldn’t help feel like my 16-year-old self at a battle of the bands show at my high school. These kids have potential but just were going at it much like teenage sex, everything, all at once, with underwhelming results.

By 10pm, the faux stoner, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing crowd had packed out OAF and excitedly waited for Wavves to take over. The Cali boys opened with King of the Beach and everyone completely lost their shit. This track set a breakneck pace that was sustained for the rest of the show.

The set was heavy with material taken from their last two albums. They churned out songs from their 2011 release, Life Sux, including I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl, while selections from their standout previous album showed diversity, such as the more sombre Green Eyes. Meanwhile, slacker anthem Take on the World had the crowd throwing themselves about, stage-diving and roaring the chorus.

I was aware that the band had recently been playing a cover of Sonic Youth’s 100% as part of their set and once again it made an appearance. The addition of their rendition of the punk classic was better than expected and well executed in classic lo-fi Wavves style.

Wavves' surf-infused brand of garage punk was a fine way to spend a brisk Tuesday night and a more-than-welcome distraction to the working week for a boisterous Oxford Arts crowd. After the four-piece belted out the hits and made the requisite references to smoking weed, we all went home with ringing ears, content in the knowledge that the opening riff from King of the Beach would be stuck in our heads for days.

Review by Carol Bowditch. Shitty iPhone pic by Bobby Townsend.

2010 End Of Year Review - Top 10 Songs

Today's End Of Year account lists the Top 10 Songs of 2010. Yeah, yeah, we've definitely forgotten all of your favourites, and some of ours too, most likely. The ol' memory just ain't what it used to be. Still, these songs are all ace, so feast your ears on some of this gravy:

1. King of the Beach - WAVVES
At its best, Wavves' Californian punk-pop lands satisfactorily between The Beach Boys and The Jesus and Mary Chain. “You’re never gonna stop me,” yells Nathan Williams (above) over the irrepressible title track of the latest album.

2. Dance The Way I Feel - OU EST LE SWIMMING POOL

Feel-good indie-dance-pop magnificence (the 'feel-good' side of which is obviously kinda poignant now). Hunt down the Blue Eyed Boy Radio Edit too. It's even better.

3. 10 Mile Stereo - BEACH HOUSE
A truly stunning moment at the back end of Teen Dream, the glorious 10 Mile Stereo has a pulsing beat that builds towards rousing, sparkling shoegazey pop and ends with a crescendo that explodes like fireworks.

4. When I'm With You - BEST COAST
Cat-loving singer Bethany Cosentino has a lovely post grunge vocal that is effortless to the point of having a reluctance to it, like it’s a real drag sometimes for her to even summon up the words. Here though, it's all about the invinsibilty of young love. "When I'm with you, I have fun," she sings over guitars drenched in reverb.

5. Cloud Shadow On The Mountain - WOLF PARADE

Spencer Krug's tense spoken-word vocal, “I was asleep in a hammock/I was dreaming that I was a web/I was a dreamcatcher hanging on the window of a mini-van parked along the water's edge/I'd say that I was all alone,” is warbled like a paranoid David Byrne before all kinds of hell breaks loose on drums and guitar. It’s as magnificent as it is tightly-coiled.

6. To The Brink - I AM KLOOT
To The Brink is the best example of the tone of I Am Kloot's latest album. “I raise a glass, a smile or two/ Well, this stuff strips the light from your bones/And I would like to leave with you/But I stay alone,” says vocalist John Bramwell mournfully over strings, like a singer in the corner of an empty bar, bowtie hanging limply around his neck. It is a magnificent song and, in its hungover introspection, plays like the bleary-eyed uncle of Pulp’s Bar Italia.

7. I Can Talk - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB
Perky Indie-dance-pop from the Bangor trio.

8. Power - KANYE WEST
It's a shame that Mr West comes across as such an acceptance-speech-ruining douche, because, when he lets his talent do the talking, he comes up with magic like this.

9. Echoes - KLAXONS
A slightly rougher and heavier relative of Golden Skans (which, if you hadn't realised, was borrowing from Madonna's Hung Up - which itself was covering ABBA), it shows why Klaxons have always referred to themselves as a pop band.

10. Hurricane - DAVID FORD
It's our old mate David Ford again, with this epic, sweeping song which mixes the political and the personal. "God bless America, God save the Queen/God kill my enemies and keep my hands clean."


HANGING OUTSIDE THE TOP TEN: 

BEST SONG-YOU-LIKE-BUT-PRETEND-YOU-DON'T OF 2010:
California Gurls - KATY PERRY FEATURING SNOOP DOGG
At BobbySix.com we don't really believe in guilty pleasures. A song we like is a song we like. And California Gurls is as fun a slice of infectious pop as we have heard this year. Come on indie snobs... it's pretty good hey?

 

BEST OVERPLAYED-BUT-STILL-PRETTY -AWESOME DANCE SONG:

Barbra Streisand - DUCK SAUCE

Try not to ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh along. We dare you.

Wavves - King of The Beach

Nathan Williams - who goes by the name Wavves - returns with a new record that, rather than being home-recorded in fits and spurts on a laptop as his previous recordings were, was put together over three months at a studio in Mississippi with Modest Mouse producer Dennis Herring and Jay Reatard’s backing band. The result is a less distorted album that still manages to retain his grungy, surf sound.

At its best, King Of The Beach’s Californian punk-pop lands satisfactorily between The Beach Boys and The Jesus and Mary Chain. “You’re never gonna stop me,” yells Williams over the album’s irrepressible title track that opens proceedings thrillingly. In spite of this triumphant start, Williams’ lyrics - presumably gleaned from the bottom of a bong - are generally self-hating and riddled with almost caricatured slacker angst. “I’m an idiot,” he whines. “My own friends hate me/But I don’t give a shit.” All of this is kinda appealing in small doses - and will tap into the mindset of young teens with a chip on their shoulder - but those who have been there and done that when grunge first came about might find it hard to empathise with William’s rather tenuous attempts at loserdom.

However, there are undoubtedly a couple of absolutely belting tunes on King Of The Beach. When Williams’ slacker vibe is more focused on having fun than feeling like the world is out to get him, it’s really infectious and makes you want to cruise around in the sunshine with a bag of weed in your pocket and a couldn’t-give-a-fuck attitude.